Family Discord

The children of Henry VIII all have different mothers and have experienced their father's multiple marriages from a different point of view. Mary is the eldest daughter of Henry VIII, in her late teens when Henry decides he no longer wants to be married to his first wife. Henry maneuvers in odd ways to rid himself of his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, going from an attempt to claim their marriage illegal because she was first married to his brother, to later creating the Church of England to enable him to procure a divorce. These actions had a profound impact on Mary. Therefore, Henry's subsequent marriage to Elizabeth's mother, Anne of Boleyn, remains a sore subject for Mary, making it difficult for her to accept Elizabeth as her sister.

Elizabeth has grown up with stories of her mother and of the false accusations her father made against...